After having decent luck grafting figs, I thought I would try my hand at citrus. It was an unmitigated disaster. Out of 20 or so grafts, only 4 have taken. All grafts were on established trees. The only ones that took were on one particular lime tree where all 3 cleft grafts of sweet lemon took and another lime tree where 2 clementine grafts took. Scions were from UCR. The grafts done on tangelo, 3 grapefruit and 4 mandarin trees all failed. This leads me to believe that there may be a compatibility issue. All the bark grafts on top-worked older trees failed, maybe I got into the wrong layer when peeling the bark. The chip and t buds all look brown. It was very hot when I grafted but why did the 2 limes do fine regardless? I would really appreciate any specific tips for citrus grafting because I’m going to try again in the spring, hopefully.
Most citrus graft fail because they dry out fast or because moisture got in and rot it. Timing is your best bet with citrus grafting in the field. When it’s hot graft the section of the tree with the most shade.
Thanks for the insight. I wrapped really well with parafilm and it hasn’t rained in ages so I don’t think moisture got in. Probably dried out. The tree with the successful graft was the one closest to the house so your advice of shade is on point.
Maybe should have increased the watering shchedule also.
Experimenting on this mandarin branch which is about 2” thick. Was going to do bark graft but bark is a little hard to peel off. I then peeled off some of the bark and it seems to me a bud graft may be possible here. Is the green layer cambium, or do I need to peel more off before I put the chip bud on? Is this too close to the cut end of the graft to put a bud?
